A Song Per Decade For July 17th
Slightly pointless. Don't really know who is reading this but hey ho.
1960s:
Not been particularly big on the sixties at the minute. But I suppose if I had to pick i'd choose some by The Beatles. I had a Beatles listening spree a couple of weeks back whilst making dinner and it was great. I think i'll choose "Ob-li-di Ob-li-da."
1970s:
Damn that Mamma Mia! I haven't actually been to see the film (nor do I think I will due to my friend situation at the minute) but y'know, why would I? I maintain that ABBA songs should be sung by Agnetha and Frida and not Meryl Streep and other assorted actors (some of whom cannot even sing!) One of THE best things about is the little tinge of their Swedish accents that always slips into their phrasing, and for some reason it makes the songs all the more enjoyable. It is perhaps what tips me in favour of Scandinavian pop, or even just pop sung in a specific accent, it gives it a certain character.
So because of this revival, it seems that I have broken out the old ABBA Gold CD again. The relentless ABBA nights and weekends on Magic music channel means that i've been exposed to a much larger area of the ABBA back catalogue (basically that covered by follow-up CD to ABBA Gold, the imaginatively named "More ABBA Gold.) So I toddle off to eBay to see this CD is going for. Turns out everyone has gone ABBA-kerazy and the used CDs are up over ten quid with days to go. So I give up. But my anguish was known to the good people of the Lowculture messageboard and then Rad contacted me and kindly offered to send me a CD-R of MAG. Hooray.
So my track of choice for the 1970s this week will be "Ring Ring" from More ABBA Gold. How that hasn't been used on a phone advert still bemuses me.
1980s:
Ah, my decade of choice most of the time. Well, not at the moment but I have gone through a bit of an unexpected Blondie revival. And this song is just on the cusp of the eighties. I hadn't seen the slightly mental video for Atomic is aaaaaaages until I saw it last week. Ever since then has been a Blondie revival. Including dancing around the the shower. It's so easy to get used to their music and get bored. It makes you forget how good a song this is. Do yourself a favour and dedicate around 4 minutes and 20 seconds of your day to listening to this song on full blast on headphones (preferably) or even just speakers.
1990s:
I've been listening to a lot of nineties stuff recently. It was a chain of events, so to speak. During a hunt through my CDs, I came across "Someone To Drive Your Home" by The Long Blondes. Someone remarked to me that The Long Blondes sounded like a band from a different era, 12 years back. This is when I dug out "At The Club" by Kenickie. This CD is a true forgotten Britpop gem. It's loud and bolshy in parts, slow and melancholic in others, but all of it is tremendous fun.
My chosen track is one that I initially ignored when ripping the CD onto my computer and i'm not entirely sure why I did. The track "People We Want" is softly spoken track with all the content and vigour of one of Kenickie's more uptempo and shouty numbers. It's like Kenickie have tried to do punk quietly. Of course there's the burst of energy half way through which is almost uplifting. It also panders liking of regional accents as the whole thing is characterised by Laverne's mackem tones.
Basically, if you're not a Kenickie fan then make yourself one! The CD is on eBay as far as I know.
2000s:
So much of the current offering of the noughties has really alienated from the indie music scene of the moment. There's so many bands out there whose success I cannot understand. The Feeling are so insipid and nauseating that i'm surprised there aren't more people chucking up after hearing their latest hit, and Scouting For Girls seem to have entered the chart with the same song about four times.
And then there are the very few artists that I find and like, and cannot understand why they're not HUGE over here. Annie for one, has been labelled an "internet hit" by the press and is very popular among bloggers and pop forumites. The fact is, she's pure mainstream pop. She's Norwegian Girls Aloud. She's so Norwegian Girls Aloud that she actually has them doing backing on one of the tracks on her new album.
It's almost as if the record company don't want her to succeed. A few weeks ago, loads of people (including myself) for their hands on the five track promo of her new album "Don't Stop" that's been doing the rounds on the net and pretty much everyone was hungry for more, now. So the record company push the release back to September! By which time, the thing will probably have leaked and everyone will be bored of it. Bad move.
Though i'm keeping my hopes up due to the big success that Robyn has had in this country, as well as the Girls Aloud cameo giving it some well-deserved publicity.
When I first heard all the tracks that're out there at the minute, my initial favourite was "Songs Remind Me Of You." Now for a bit of a change I have chosen the next single, Loco. It's fabulously catchy. Here's hoping SRMOY is the third single and that "Don't Stop" is a big success, despite the odds going against such an outcome.
Outside the world of music, I got slightly gutted when I realised that there is going to be no regular Doctor Who on television until I am TWENTY YEARS OLD. I'm only eighteen now, for christ's sake! I'm also terribly nervous at the moment. When I first started writing this post I was waiting to find out if I had got a job. It turns out that I have got the job. Now i'm nervous about completely fucking up at said job. I also realised last night that it's only two weeks until exam results and that I am completely shitting it.
Gah, this is all far too much for my anxiety issues.